USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 18
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In the early records it may be seen that the planters had defaced the monu- ments of the dead at Passonagesit, and had plundered the grave of the sachem's mother of some skins, etc., with which the grave had been decorated. Influenced by the sublime and holy feeling of which we have spoken, the sachem, whose mother's tomb had been violated, gathered his men together, and addressed them in beautifully simple and pathetic language-an affecting instance, we cannot but think, of filial piety, if not so remarkable a specimen as might be offered of In- dian eloquence. We may not, indeed, give his speech in full, or do justice to it.
The gist of it, however, is contained in the words in which the spirit of his mother seemed, "when the glorious light of the sky was under the earth, and the birds had ceased to sing, and he had sought for repose," to reproach him; "Behold, my son whom I have cherished-see the breasts that gave thee suck, and the hands that lapped thee warm; ... see now the sachem's grave defaced!
As a great patriarchial family, such injury offered to one was a sacrilege felt by all; and that which is sometimes attributed by the white man to caprice or perfidy, arises in the Indian's breast from deep, noble and generous motives.
Whatever may be said of the heathenism of the Indians, it is clear that they
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believed in an invisible and superior power, who governs the destinies of men. Some will have it that they believed in two supreme gods, or great spirits-the good and the evil. Hence their sacrifices, with all the tumultuous ceremonies of their pow wows and war dances. If their enmity was strong, their friendship was warm and affectionate. They seldom had personal quarrels, and never were dis- posed to steal from, rob, or defame each other. Whenever a family had occasion to leave their hut, or wigwam, it was sufficient for them to set up a stick against the door: this was their lock, and proved a religious security to their dwellings from invasion by Indians. They were also rigid against adultery. Their mode of war- fare was, to be sure, by surprise; and this grew out of their peculiar circum- stances-isolated and without the modern appliances or instruments of war.
It is a far cry-over three hundred years-since the white man and red man began to misunderstand each other at Plymouth. There are Indians in the United States now-some claim more than there were when the Pilgrims landed. In February, 1927, they held the pow wow of the grand council fire of American Indians at Chicago. Among those present was Chief Roy Osh Kosh from the reservation at Menominee, Wisconsin, wearing carefully pressed trousers and with stylish spats snugly fitted over faultlessly shined shoes. He said the Indian is much better off with electric lights, automobiles and his modernism than when he roamed the virgin forest while the squaws did the work. "My daughter, Mrs. Rhoda House," said the chief, "is the president of the Indian Women's Voters' League of the Menominee Reservation. The cigarette has replaced the pipe of peace among our wives and daughters. Rouge, delicately scented, is the modern war paint. Stockings of silk are quite the thing. The Charleston and the Black Bottom are our war dances. Our girls are flappers, and our young men wear floppy pants, and I suspect that the latter like their gin. Dreams of old time power and glory are for the wrinkled braves. Nowadays the women take care of the home, join voters' leagues, while the braves take care of business."
Living Descendant of Massasoit-Miss Charlotte L. Mitchell (Prin- cess Wontonskanuske) still living on the ancestral land of the Wam- panoags at Lakeville, is the only living descendant of the great sachem with whom the Pilgrims made a treaty, which he kept in good faith until he died. There are others who claim direct descent but, so far as the writer has been able to learn, she is the only one making the claim whose genealogy has been traced. More concerning her appears in one of the chapters in the Plymouth County section of this history. One statement made by her in that chapter says, presumably with truth : "I am the only titled descendant of Massasoit. I have never married. When a woman of our tribe marries other than an Indian, she loses caste and no longer belongs to the tribe."
A claim that she is a direct descendant of Massasoit is made for one
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who became the bride of a medicine man of the Mashpee Indians on Cape Cod in January, 1927. Mannanata, daughter of Princess Minowanin of the Mashpees, gave her daughter in marriage to Man- tasikaun, a medicine man of this tribe, on Sunday, January 9, 1927.
In Mashpee they were met by Mantasikaun, or Clarence Wixon, and the illustrious leader of the tribe, Chief Nelson D. Simons. The first ceremony took place at the Mashpee Baptist Church with Rev. Law- rence D. Hinkley officiating, and the best man was none other than Chief Simons.
The second ceremony was a genuine Indian wedding, such as was performed by the forbears of this famous tribe of Colonial times. In olden times all the Chiefs of the tribe were present and each had his part of the duties to perform in the ceremony. Chief Simons is not the only one of the tribe, yet circumstances were such that he was the only one at the wedding. This aboriginal performance began when the bride and groom marched slowly around the sachem, the pair being wrapped in a single blanket, while the marriage dance was formed around them. After that the young couple jumped over a birch stick, covered with feathers, while they were accompanied by the tom-toms and flutes.
Princess Minowanin is a daughter of Princess Krischani, Mashpee I11- dian, and William Manuel, Pokapoag Medicine-Man. Princess Krischani, or Mrs Lucretia (Scott) Manuel, was born in Plymouth at South Ponds. Her father was Warren Scott and her mother, Hannah Leonard, Indian residents of Plymouth.
Princess Minowanin went on the stage when she was twenty-one years of age. After twelve years of stage life she moved to Lakeville because of ill health. The bridegroom, Mantasikaun, is a descendant of the Nauset tribe, which once owned Cape Cod, and the son of a Mashpee Indian. His mother was a white woman. He is the last of the Mashpee Indian Medicine-Men, with a knowledge of roots, herbs, barks, berries, and flowers for medicinal purposes. He is also a historian and specially interested in matters pertaining to his people, with a thorough knowledge of the history of the Mashpee tribe.
"The Mashpees," he says, "are descendants of seven tribes, among whom were the Wampanoags under Massasoit, the Pequots, Nausets, Makonets and Montauks. Here in this little tribe, which number six or seven hundred, both on and off the Mashpee Reservation on Cape Cod, may be found descendants of many famous Indians, among whom are numbered Sassacus, Massasoit, King Philip, Aspinet, Tisquantum or Squanto, Tuspaquin, Quachatisset, Popononett and Iyanough for whom Hyannis was named."
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The Wampanoags were one of the principal tribes of New England when Cape Cod was first settled. After King Philip's War the survivors joined the Saconnet in Rhode Island or became connected with the "Praying Indians" of the southern part of Massachusetts.
The Nausets, a tribe under dominion of the Wampanoags, occupied Cape Cod and the islands, and it was with them that the "first encounter" took place. Nevertheless, they became friendly and few of them joined Philip in his war. Many of them became Christianized before the war. A few probably survive at Mashpee and Gay Head, Marthas Vineyard.
In 1917, upon recommendation of the legislative committee on ways and means the then three surviving descendants of the Indian chief Mas- sasoit, Teeweleena, Wontonskanuske and Zerviah Robinson, aged sis- ters, were pensioned by the State, as the result of an agreement made between the Commonwealth and the Wampanoag Tribe of Indians many years ago. The three sisters lived together at Lakeville. . Their pensions were $100 a year each, a small amount of money, but it served to add some comforts in their declining years.
The last of the three sisters is Wontonskanuske and, in her behalf, an attempt was made in 1927 to obtain a larger pension but it was not granted. Some years ago she broke her arm, since which time she has been unable to do much work about her place. Some tribes of the Improved Order of Red Men have sent her donations and she lives in comfort and with numerous gifts to make her life pleasurable in her declining years.
There is a statue of her ancestor, Massasoit, on Cole's Hill in Plym- outh, on the height above Plymouth Rock, with an inscription to show it was erected by the Improved Order of Red Men. The name of this fraternal organization bearing the name "Improved" seems to many to be amusing in that connection.
More "Indian English" by Tompson-An extremely curious piece of Indian English occurs in "New-England's Crisis," a poem on King Philip's War written by Benjamin Tompson in 1676. Tompson, who was a graduate of Harvard College, a physician, and an eminent school- master, is described on his tombstone as "the renouned poet of New England." "New-England's Crisis" is his chief work. After a prologue in praise of simplicity-an ingenious adaptation to New-England of a famous passage in Boethius-Tompson describes King Philip as holding an assembly of his "peers" and his "commons" and delivering an oration against the colonists. This speech is partly in good English, but it is variegated with imitations of the Indian pronunciation and syntax. There are even two native Indian words,-wunnegin, which means "good," and matchit, which means "bad," --- both of which were
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of course perfectly familiar to the whites. Tompson passes for the earliest native American poet. At all events, he must be credited with the first piece of "dialect verse" ever written in this country. In the extract which follows, the punctuation has been regulated, but no other changes have been made:
And here methinks I see this greazy Lout, With all his pagan slaves coil'd round about, Assuming all the majesty his throne Of rotten stump, or of the rugged stone, Could yield; casting some bacon-rine-like looks, Enough to fright a Student from his books,
Thus treat his peers, & next to them his Commons, Kennel'd together all without a summons :- "My friends, our Fathers were not half so wise As we our selves, who see with younger eyes; They sel our land to english man, who teach Our nation all so fast to pray and preach. Of all our countrey they enjoy the best, And quickly they intend to have the rest. This no wunnegin; so big matchit law, Which our old fathers fathers never saw These english make, and we must keep them too, Which is too hard for us or them to doe. We drink, we so big whipt; but english they Go sneep, no more, or else a little pay. Me meddle Squaw, me hang'd; our fathers kept
What Squaws they would, whither they wakt or slept.
Now, if you'le fight, Ile get you english coats, And wine to drink out of their Captains throats. The richest merchants houses shall be ours; Wee'l ly no more on matts or dwell in bowers. Wee'l have their silken wives; take they our squaws! They shall be whipt by virtue of our laws. If ere we strike, tis now, before they swell To greater swarmes then we know how to quell.
This my resolve, let neighbouring Sachems know, And every one that hath club, gun, or bow." This was assented to, and, for a close, He strokt his smutty beard and curst his foes.
Philip's comparison between penalties for Indians and penalties for English is very pithily expressed, and it is precisely here that the Indianisms are most marked :
We drink, we so big whipt; but english they Go sneep, no more, or else a little pay.
That is, "If we Indians get drunk, we are severely whipped. But if the English get drunk, they merely go and sleep it off, or perhaps have
.
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to pay a slight fine." Tompson was a scholar, a student of the tongues. Possibly he was here reproducing an actual bit of "Indian talk." At all events, he must be pretty close to the linguistic facts. The use of sneep for sleep corresponds with what has often been observed,-the Indian substitution of ยป for l in English words. Massasoit always called his friend Winslow "Winsnow."
There is a small island on the south side of the Cape, about one hundred acres in area, on which a few Indians, who had separated fromn the main band, made a settlement and lived by fishing and some attempt at agriculture about one hundred and seventy-five years ago. This group is said to have belonged to the Mashpee Tribe. The last of the group was a squaw who inherited the island and lived alone on it after all the others had died. She stated to the selectmen of Barnstable that, at her death, she wanted the island to become the property of the town, as the townspeople had been kind to her and her race, the only condition being that she should be given burial on the highest point of the island, overlooking the water, and that a large stone should mark her grave.
Following her death, the town of Barnstable claimed the property, but no one cared to live on the island except a few fishermen who found it a convenient location and did not mind the isolation for a time. It seemed to be an unprofitable piece of land for the town to hold, as public parks were not in demand or scarcely thought of anywhere, much less on Cape Cod which was then and remains today a public park to all intents and purposes. Some Boston sportsmen wanted to purchase the island for $300 and the townspeople looked upon the offer as an easy way for them to add that amount to school funds. The descendants of the Boston purchasers sold the island about 1905 for $8,000. A road was built from the mainland and summer cottages erected, but the high stone marking the resting place of the last Indian possessor remains in place. In honor of her it has been called for practically two hundred years Squaw Island.
Massachusetts Indians in 1849-Commissioners were appointed by the General Court or Massachusetts Legislature in 1849 to investigate concerning the number and conditions of Indians then living within the Commonwealth. It is interesting to note from this report that nearly all the Indians were in Plymouth, Norfolk or Barnstable counties and the number was approximately 900. The Wampanoags, of which Massa- soit was sagamore when the Pilgrims landed, had been effectually wiped out in the King Philip War, and no longer existed as a tribe. Of all the Indians in the three counties in 1849 only six or eight of them, ac- cording to the report, were of pure blood. All the rest were a mixture of white and Indian or black and Indian.
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The Chippequiddic Tribe dwelt on a small island of that name near Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. There were eighty-five in number, all healthy and most of them living by agriculture. They had a school, attended church and "seldom or never went to law."
The Christiantown Tribe dwelt on the northwest shore of Martha's Vineyard and numbered forty-nine. They lived by farming and the sea, largely fishing.
The Gay Head Tribe lived on the promontory of that name which forms the western extremity of Martha's Vineyard. They were one hundred and seventy-four in number, and held their lands by proscrip- tion, and not by any titles connected with statute law. They were en- gaged in picking cranberries in the season and there was rivalry among them as to harvesting and selling the largest supply. They largely lived in wooden houses, a few of the houses being of stone. They made pottery of the peculiar clay in that vicinity, having natural colors, which made the crude vessels of their moulding much in demand when offered for sale. They had a school but no regular preaching.
The Mashpee Tribe occupied a spot on the southern shore of Cape Cod, adjoining Sandwich and Barnstable. There were three hundred and five of them, mostly farmers but some sea-faring men. They had two schools, maintained by the State and were industrious, living at peace with themselves and their neighbors, as they do at present, for the Mashpee Indians still exist and are especially noted for their skill in growing small fruits and berries.
There was a Herring Pond Tribe, so called, residing on the borders of Plymouth and Sandwich, and numbering fifty-five. They all lived in comfortable houses, practiced agriculture and fishing, were indus- trious, temperate and, in the language of the report "withal profoundly ignorant."
The Fall River Tribe inhabited a part of the city by that name and liumbered thirty-seven. They were reported as "indolent, improvident, living from hand to mouth."
The Dudley Tribe lived in Webster and numbered forty-five. "They are the most degraded of all Indians in the State. Not more than half live by work, the rest beg, and the women do worse," according to the report. "They have no school or preaching but receive money from the State."
The Hassanamisco or Grafton Tribe was found in Grafton, twenty- six in number. "They are fast melting away and will soon become ex- tinct" was the prediction and it has evidently proven true, for no one seems to know the whereabouts of a Hassanamisco Indian.
There were ten members of the Ponkopog Tribe in Canton and Stoughton, who were industrious, temperate and supported themselves.
Plym-52
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Fifty-eight Yarmouth Indians inhabited the town by that name in Barnstable County, but had "become so blended with the whites by intermarriage as to have lost in great degree their Indian character."
The report further said: "The Naticks are extinct as a tribe, found here and there."
CHAPTER XL PARADISE OF LAKES AND STREAMS
Surrounded by Salt Water, Facing Four Seas, the Tides Penetrate to the Heart of Cape Cod and Pearly Lakes and Purling Streams Make A Vacation Land Complete-Fishing Areas of 37,000 Inland Acres With More Fish to the Acre Than Anywhere Else in New England, Excepting Maine-Forest Fire Prevention-Billboards Forbidden- Good Roads-Happy Days.
It is more than three hundred years since the courageous Pilgrims completed their sixty-five days of ocean travel in the "Mayflower" and, on the morning of November 20th, 1620, sighted that part of Cape Cod where Truro is now located, found an anchorage in Provincetown Har- bor, began their exploring, had the "First Encounter" with the Indians at Eastham and began the roll of vital statistics with the birth of Pere- grine White and the death of Mrs. Edward Winslow.
From the coming of the Pilgrims until after the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts was a maritime colony. Independence came long before industrial prominence and it was not until two other wars had been fought that transportation connected the sands of Cape Cod with the wide open spaces of the West. Ships from Cape Cod sailed around the world long before the calls were returned. The covered wagon plodded its way westward, carrying the New England character into the prairie lands to mix with the varied ideas and customs of European emigra- tion before anyone, except the early comers and their descendants, cared much for Cape Cod or knew it for anything but a name. But times have changed and now Cape Cod is again the mecca of pilgrimages from everywhere, as it has become recognized as one of the most healthful and beautiful playgrounds of America. Its historical character adds to its lure for the vacationists but, aside from the drama of a never-to-be- forgotten past, the beauty of seashore and inland woods, lakes and meadows offer an arena for everything which modern recreation and love of outdoor life and beauty can demand.
The hotel keepers and others interested in still further bringing to the attention of the world the glories of Cape Cod have an ambitious plan of spending $35,000 in enabling the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce to carry on a publicity campaign in 1928 worthy of the vacation land.
Many of the same geographic influences which affected. early settle- ments still have a determining factor in founding present-day summer villages for vacationists. The fisheries of Cape Cod were the first profit-
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able industry in the Plymouth Colony. There are still fish in the sea and they excite the wonder and admiration of present-day sportsmen as had his home at Gray Gables on Buzzards Bay and the latter owned a handsome retreat which he called The Crow's Nest, situated on high truly as they did of Bartholomew Gosnold before the Pilgrims left Hol- land. Fishermen from every State in the Union annually cross the bridges which lead on to Cape Cod to ensnare the fish in the inland ponds dotting the entire cape, or engage in salt water fishing from the numerous Cape Cod ports and bays. Two and three hundred years ago the reason for selecting the locations of Cape Cod towns was largely because of the necessity of seeking the line of least resistance. Now the urge of the sportsman brings him to the same locations. A description of these geographical peculiarities, as given in a special re- port in recognition of the three hundredth anniversary of the settle- ment of New England, printed for the Department of Labor and Indus- tries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, mentions: "Sandwich is in a niche among morainic hills, and has a stream of small water power and for the ascent of the herring. Falmouth is on a fertile plain at the eastern base of the moraine, close by fresh lakes and inlets of the sea. Barnstable is on good soil, by the waters of an ample bay, and counted much on for large supplies of salt hay from the Great Marshes. Hyan- nis is at the head of a branch of the great Lewis Bay, and necessarily on the southern-shore highway. Chatham was planted in the midst of a network of protected waters, and Orleans is at the head of Town Cove, a secluded bay which admits the tides to the middle of the Cape. Wellfleet stands at the head of its great harbor, once white with sails and affording upon its wide acreage of shallow bottoms a home for large crops of quahaugs and oysters. Truro is on the tidal inset of Pamet River, once a good harbor, then destroyed by silting, and now being reopened by the dredge. North Truro is the old Pond Village, by a small lake in a bowl-shaped hollow, where the dwellers are pro- tected from the fierce winds of the outer Cape. Provincetown, late in origin, has outstripped other towns of the Cape for reasons that are purely oceanic-harborage, fishing, and the romance and scenic beauty of a marine environment."
Since the completion of the Cape Cod Canal, the Cape has been com- pletely surrounded by salt water and is widely known as a salt water shore resort. There are comparatively few people who realize that the lakes and streams of Barnstable County have a large share in mak- ing it a region of pure delight. The lakes and rivers are as characteristic of the Cape as the ocean which surrounds it. There are two hundred and seventy lakes shown on the topographic map, most of them framed in emerald green to the water itself. Among distinguished men of a
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THE WATER FRONT. HYANNISPORT
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few years ago who found great pleasure on the lakes were the late President Grover Cleveland and the late Joseph Jefferson. The former land overlooking beautiful Buttermilk Bay, an extension of Buzzards Bay.
The ponds of Cape Cod are in a class by themselves, clear sparkling water, inhabited by fish which, in many instances, can be seen in large numbers as they fidget about the bait dropped for their entertainment and destruction. There are ponds all over the Cape, varying in their greatest depth from three feet to eighty feet, and in acreage from twenty to seven hundred and seventy-eight. Long Pond in Harwich is the largest and it has an extreme depth of sixty-six feet. Cliff Pond at East Brewster is much smaller, having only one hundred and forty- one acres, but its depth reaches eighty-one feet.
One of the interesting little ponds is Moon Pond at Provincetown. The cliffs at Truro, on both sides of the Cape, and the cliffs at Pilgrim Heights were once sea-cliffs, as, in all probability, Provincetown was once an island and North Truro area was once another island. These cliffs washed away, little by little, and built up the beaches connecting Provincetown with the mainland. Moon Pond is enclosed by these beaches with the cliffs at Pilgrim Heights adjoining. Moon Pond is a little pond of disturbed waters, so shallow that the wind stirs the mud at the bottom. There are numerous German carp in the pond and they help stir the mud and keep the water unattractive. The vegeta- tion which has collected on the sandy sides make the surroundings ar- tistic and alluring, however, and it is a little pond well worth visiting.
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